Tazreen victim Amena loses battle for life

Struggle of at least four more survivors still on

Our Correspondent, Savar

A Tazreen Fashions fire victim, who had developed cancer from a bruised liver following the garment factory disaster two years back, died in a hospital in the capital early yesterday. Amena Begum, 35, died at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) around 4:00am. She left behind her husband, two daughters and two sons. She was a sewing machine operator at Tazreen Fashions Ltd, a Toba Group factory, in Ashulia outside the capital, where a massive fire killed 112 workers and injured hundreds on November 24, 2012. The garment factory owners association BGMEA funded the primary treatment of 90 of the injured and distributed Tk 1 lakh to each of them as compensation. Amena jumped through a fourth-floor window to escape the fire, and survived after suffering severe wounds to the liver. She hailed from Buriadoha village of Lalmonirhat sadar upazila. Her husband Abul Hosen, a rickshaw puller, has sold his only home and 10 decimals of land in Lalmonirhat for Tk 1.84 lakh to arrange better treatment for Amena. The poor man earlier said Amena took treatment in three hospitals before being released without a full recovery. After 19 months, she was diagnosed with cancer from sores in the liver. Her treatment was primarily funded by an NGO but it could not afford it for long, Hosen said. Amena had been admitted to BSMMU in June. Because of a lack of proper treatment, at least four injured victims, all females, living in Savar's Nischintapur, developed serious complications. Mukta Banu is suffering from hearing loss, Nasima from neurosis, Halima Akter from kidney diseases, and Zarina Akter from a displaced backbone. One injured victim, Sumaiya Khatun, 16, died on March 21 from a cancerous brain tumour. BGMEA had given Tk 7 lakh each to the families of 99 deceased workers. Zaglul Hayder, the additional secretary of BGMEA, said Sumaiya was not considered a deceased victim, while the matter of Amena was yet to be decided.